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Drill Dozer |
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Platform: GBA
Release Date: 2005
Players: 1 |
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The shelves of stores are filled with dozens of horrible cutesy platformers and at first glance Drill Dozer could easily be mistaken as one of them. Thankfully Drill Dozer is nothing like the others and is a diamond in the rough. |
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Jill is drilling away |
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You are Jill, a young girl who is anything but normal. She is the daughter of the leader of the Red Dozers, a group of thieves that steal only from the evil Skulkers. The leader of the Red Dozers was ambushed by the Skulkers and got badly injured. To add insult to injury the Skulkers also stole the Red Dozers most prized possesion, the red diamond. The red diamond has the power to grant anyone's wishes and must be kept out of the wrong hands! Jill then takes temporary command of the Red Dozers and busts into the Skulker's hideout in a machine called the drill dozer.
The drill dozer is a drilling machine that can do almost anything. With the right upgrades it can break through steel walls, dive underwater, and even fly! By using the shoulder buttons you can spin the drill clockwise or counter clock wise to solve puzzles and defeat the Skulker goons. The level design is very clever and it takes advantage of all the things a drill can do. You might have to drill into a block and then instantly drill in the opposite direction to recoil backwards to get to the next ledge for instance. |
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The drill dozer can also be a submarine! |
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Throughout the levels there are gear boxes. By breaking the gear boxes the drill dozer will get another gear. This allows it to "shift up" in order to drill longer. At the end of each level the gears break and you have to find the boxes again in the next level. In between levels there is a shop that sells upgrades secret levels. There aren't very many upgrades (just more health and being able to break stronger blocks) which is a little dissapointing. In order to buy the upgrades, Jill has to collect "chips" from fallen enemies and from item boxes. |
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One of the several boss fights |
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The bosses are very clever and are inspired by the screen filling bosses in the Gunstar games from Treasure. Each boss follows a pattern that will expose its weak spot if you pay attention. During one of the boss battles you have to drill inside a huge machine and destroy the circuits inside, for example. The final boss is dissapointing and sadly ends all too quickly.
Drill Dozer isn't a hard game, but it isn't easy either. The game is very well balanced and gets harder without getting frustrating as the game goes on. A fwe boss battles are tough and take several tries but once the pattern is figured out the boss is easier. The secret levels that can be bought once the main story is finished are very hard. They require very advanced skill with the drill dozer and one wrong move can really hurt you. Beating the secret levels is rewarding and worth the time even if they are hard. |
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Jill found the 2nd gear! |
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Drill Dozer has a nice cartoony 2d style. Everything is colorful and the animations are smooth. The backgrounds are simple most of the time but the characters look very nice. Jill's drill dozer is very coloful and moves smoothly with no jerky movements. The bosses by far look the best. They are usually very big and fill the screen. Drill Dozer rarely ever slows down even when half a dozen or more enemies have filled the screen. The graphics are simple at times but look very colorful and clean especially on the gba micro's bright screen. |
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Where should I go next? |
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One thing is very noticeable when you turn on Drill Dozer for the first time, it sounds like a Pokemon game. That is not a bad thing considering how good the music is in those games. The background music is very colorful and upbeat just like the graphics. The music for each level is very catchy and sticks in your head. Some of the music is repeated throughout the game, such as the boss and 3rd gear music, but it never sounds like the developers are trying to cut corners.
The sound effects are all spot on. The drill is what you will hear the most and thankfully it isn't high pitched or annoying. Whenever the drill is used the game actually rumbles and helps the drilling feel more realistic. The other sound effects are great as well such as Jill's shouts, the drill dozer's clanking steps, and walls crumbling. |
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Two against one? |
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For a platofrmer game, Drill Dozer will last you a while. The main story takes only about 5-6 hours to rush through but once the game is beaten there is still plenty to do. Six secret levels are unlocked in the shop and there are treasure chests to find. The treasures are just like in Kirby Superstar's The Great Cave Offensive. They are usually in hard to reach places that can only be accessed by buying upgrades in the shop or taking an alternate route through the level. Collecting the treauseres raises your rank as a thief but they aren't useable items. Collecting all 31 treasure will take a while and will give completionists something to occupy them for a long time. |
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Jill really hates chandeliers |
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Closing Comments |
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Drill Dozer is a breath of fresh air for the slowly dieing GBA. Gamefreak decided to take a break from the Pokemon franchise and made this great sidescroller. Everything about Drill Dozer makes it feel like some long lost Super NES classic. Hopefully this will turn into another great franchise for Gamefreak and Nintendo. |
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Gameplay 9/10
Audio: 8.5/10
Graphics: 8.5/10
Replay Value: 7.5/10
Overall: 8.5/10 |
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Cons:
-Could use a few more levels
-"Mature" gamers might be too cool to play this |
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Pros:
-Original
-Bright, colorful graphics
-Interesting new gameplay |
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